(1) What factors are considered when differentiating a Colt Mustang Pocketlite as a "combat handgun" from a LWS .32 as a "defense pistol"?

(2) The term "size-efficient" has a variety of meanings, but is there some size-to-power ratio/formula/consideration used to determine levels of size efficiency in firearms?
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What makes the LWS.32 "very possibly the most size-efficient defense pistol made"? How does the Para-Ordance P10 .45 rate in the "size-efficiency" category---or a Calico 950, among others?

Are some weapons referred to as solely (a) a defense pistol simply because its mission is so purely defensive?

Is the term "size-efficient" (as it applies to handguns) simply a reference to the ratio of size to power in a handgun?

Charlie D aka Different name
Thanks for your response.

Edited by: Different name at: 6/17/02 5:24:28 pm

Xracer
*TFF Senior Staff*
Posts: 2327
(6/17/02 5:30:43 pm)
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In this case, I think that these definitions are in the eye of the beholder....or in the eye of the manufacturers advertising department.

(1) Who says a Colt Mustang is a "combat handgun"? I certainly don't consider anything of less than Major Caliber to fit that category.

I suppose you can consider any handgun as a "defense pistol" if your standards on stopping power are low enough.

(2) I suspect that this size/efficency ratio thingy was thought up by somebody who:

Do most handgun experts use the terms "combat handgun" and "defense pistol" pretty much interchangeably?
Would you be more inclined to call a Seecamp a "defense pistol" simply because its mission is so purely defensive?
Who would want to initiate offensive action with this piece!
Concerening the term "size-efficient" (as it applies to handguns), does this simply refer to ratio of size to power in a handgun? Thus the smaller the gun relative to the power of the cartridge it chambers, the more size-efficient it is?
Thus, wouldn't the Colt Mustang Pocketlite be a more size-efficient .380 than a SIG P230, and the P230 would be more size-efficient than the Taurus PT-58?
Would it be your opinion that, the Para-Ordnance P-10 would rate high in terms of size-efficiency? Isn't it possible that, this can be overdone, however, if the gun becomes so small that practical marksmanship is seriously impaired by recoil?

Charlie D
Some of this seems equivocal to me --- how about you? Any comments please?

I don't know about so-called "handgun experts", but I don't. I consider a small, easily concealable handgun, accurate at 7 to 10 yards to be a defense pistol....as an example, a 2" snubby revolver or a short barreled auto. I say that a "combat handgun" was a full size, major-calilber handgun, accurate to 25 or more yards, suitable for use in a combat course competition.

As for size/efficiency ratio.....a .44 magnum derringer would rate right up there, but how useable is it? This sounds like the stuff handgun magazine writers do when the have space to fill, and can't think of anything useful to write (like stuffing targets with old belly button lint, or customizing your M1911 with earwax).

Hmmmmmm then, like a deaf gunslinger with a extra amount of lint to his disadvantage.

Interesting, because I had never come across
the terminology before. Thanx a lot.
Charlie D

anchored
Member
Posts: 10
(7/26/02 9:12:26 am)
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I've always thought the Combat appellation is was derived from the combat shooting sports, which might be defense-related, but they're still games. Those guns are tuned to work best in the games, where a defense weapon is tuned to be carried all the time, come out of concealment easily, and then stop someone quickly.

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